Capricorn Posted March 8, 2016 Share Possible it is the same guy from Rhodes Mem? With the increased awareness and presence of cops, did that drive him to look further afield?? i was wondering the same thing. With his identikit image out and being named, i'd imagine he'd move along somewhere else. I hope he gets the ultimate solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJR Posted March 8, 2016 Share Terribly sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerhardc Posted March 8, 2016 Share Tragies!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WKNDWRRR Posted March 8, 2016 Share I cycled around Lower Tokai for the first time last week and remember thinking how beautiful and serene it was. To think that someone's child lost their life there is beyond comprehension. I pray that the family find the strength to get through this devastating time. Rest in Peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerklong Posted March 8, 2016 Share Makes me de moer in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dre Posted March 8, 2016 Share Makes me de moer in. Me too. I can only imagine the hate and vengeful feelings I would have if this happened to my wife or one day a child. May the family find the strength to get through this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wannabe Posted March 8, 2016 Share I'm still waiting for someone to post that it is her own fault for running ahead, or the Mother's for allowing her too. A perp like that must pray I never get hold of him...... RIP young girl, really saddened and angered by this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duane_Bosch Posted March 8, 2016 Share So incredibly sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepia Posted March 8, 2016 Share I'm still waiting for someone to post that it is her own fault for running ahead, or the Mother's for allowing her too. A perp like that must pray I never get hold of him...... me first!!!!!!!!!!!! RIP young girl, really saddened and angered by this.Exactly this. This makes me so upset and unstable. Just too sick of this for words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beesrib Posted March 8, 2016 Share So tragic and sad. RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boerklong Posted March 8, 2016 Share I'm still waiting for someone to post that it is her own fault for running ahead, or the Mother's for allowing her too. A perp like that must pray I never get hold of him...... RIP young girl, really saddened and angered by this.Iys not eve my child, but I get chills down my spine just thinking of it. I will get locked up for a long time if I find him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Deon) Posted March 8, 2016 Share March 8th, 2016"To my Constantia neighbours and friends,Losing a child is an open wound to be nursed, there is no cure. I have learnt that time is a teacher, not a healer.In the tragedy of 15 year old Franziska being murdered in Tokai forest yesterday, I find myself looking for the lessons. She was out running with her mum, her sibling and their dog, so it must be greater than “we must jog in groups”. The South African reality is, it happens in most communities far away from but around us, every day. Parents, breadwinners, children young and older, pensioners, the disabled, anyone and everyone are vulnerable in their homes, on the streets of our city, our leafy suburbs and townships. Today we know for sure, we are all accessible. Until brutality comes knocking on our automated doorbell and remote controlled gate, we don’t have to think about it. We have naturally become unaffected and desensitised through the regular reporting of these incidents in local newspapers and on our TV screens but usually it’s “over there”. I think this is a ledge, a tipping point. As has become our usual, we can look the other way, buy The Big Issue, have a casual , warm chat with the security guard at school, smile and wave through our shut window at the guy selling his wares at the robot, drop a generous tip into the hand of the parking attendant who looks after our car while we shop, we can call and whinge on Capetalk, rant and rage on Facebook but it makes no difference other than to fuel fear, resentment and fracture an already wounded society.We have been living in Constantia for 17 years and I am always moved and inspired and saddened by how quickly our community rallies to help when there is a need. The fires in neighbouring suburbs is a recent example. Food, clothing, medical supplies, water, accommodation, legal advice, trauma counselling and an endless list of needs are met by those of us who can and want to help. What is sad every time is a lack of consistency; I point my finger at my chest first! My contributions are always well intentioned and I don’t have to think to long about what to do and what needs to be done as somebody is always leading and guiding us through social media or a school newsletter.Looking harder at what prompts us choose to step up and help could be one of many things, either there is a direct threat to our own comfort and security, or it eases our consciences living in our plush suburb or we want to do the right thing and everyone else is doing something or hopefully we recognise the responsibility of privilege? I firmly believe a minority of people are selfish. By definition, selfish would mean you do nothing practical but you do commiserate with a dropped head or a sigh and slow headshake! Often there are buy ins to myths of arson, or homeless people setting fires or the incompetence of those meant to be managing controlled fires! I strongly believe as citizens on the luxury end of sunny South Africa, we mostly want to do something! Our country is in a mess. I’d like to blame the government but actually we must all be responsible. Voting every 5 years, investing offshore or putting on some glitzy blinkers is not how we live in a democracy, where so many opportunities are available to many. If you don’t want to visit your children overseas as they follow career opportunities, we have to start making sure more people have opportunities to live properly, by our own definition! The divide is enormous and the more information we have the more we can make choices about what and where to start. We have the luxury of living in this beautiful country, in this mostly polarised but elitist Constantia. Our options include doing nothing of course that is a democratic right too but like me, a lot of us want to do something to transform our country.I know many of my friends who are residents, make their contributions, not just materially but they volunteer, adopt charities, fundraise, share their gains by creating employment and properly compensating their domestics, gardeners and assisting with long term investments like the education of those employees’ children and the burials of their dead. Of course that can never be taken for granted. I am just wondering in print, how we sustain the efforts of so many in a manner which is consistent and measurable. After every crisis, I am left feeling a sense of unity, that together we could make a difference to those affected. After those fires, it was impossible for us not to feel something or think about how it could be if it was us, our home, our school or our children.Today is a good day to reflect on how seamlessly we respond in cash or kind when it’s something that happens on our doorstep, because we want to, but also because we can. Tonight we can alarm our homes, pop into our cars, get some flowers at Woollies and meet in silence to show support for the family of Francesca. As an ex Waldorf parent, I am very respectful of their ethos of individuality but more so on their value of inclusivity. Our disabled son and our family got enormous value being in that community. They are mindful and they promote peace and fairness. I don’t know Francesca or her family but my wish is that her spirit is free and that she will be honoured by our efforts to learn the lessons her death will afford us. I don’t believe there are unplanned births or deaths. There are unplanned pregnancies and unnatural deaths. This is unnatural, as human beings it should be normal for us to want to be together to mourn, to understand and to improve the lot of the vulnerable. Tonight we will gather in silent remembrance to acknowledge Franziska and her family, her life and her death. In Constantia, we have privilege and with it comes responsibility. For me, that responsibility extends beyond, upgrading my home alarm, raising the electrified fences, spiking the walls , having cameras capturing all the movement around our homes. Paying monthly fees to be members of ADT, then the dedicated street ADT service, then the Constantia Watch service and keeping our housekeeper and gardener aware at all times to keep doors, big windows and gates closed. This feels necessary in the times we are living in, we should be vigilant and do what we have to, to feel secure in our homes. The opportunity here is so broad, my wish is that this young girl’s life and death will also bring lessons on how to be a Constantia community not just a Constantia Society. It’s not a situation by situation response, it should be an ongoing commitment. Growing up on the Cape Flats my experience was communal, we looked after each others’ families, we looked out for our friends. In Constantia we are generally separated by high fences, indifference and approaches to our privileges. There are many gold nuggets among us who want South Africa to work and we don’t know where to start. HERE IS OUR OPPORTUNITY, let’s start elementary dialogue about what is not working, why we choose to live here and how we use our power, and we all have personal power to make our world safer, to improve relations with our neighbours, our workers who leave our comfortable homes and show up for battle as they navigate through taxi ranks and opportunistic crime to get to their homes, dwellings and sometimes unattended children. For each occasion something tragic happens, everyone steps up their game of neighbourliness and then we regress to our complacent apathy and privilege. I say we and I start with me in mind! Nobody is safe. The majority of South Africa is more vulnerable than us. Representatives of that majority work for and among us, they walk among us. As a coloured person with privilege in a democracy, I have experienced more prejudice post apartheid than I did during apartheid. I consider living through Apartheid one of my biggest privileges...BECAUSE I HAVE A REFERENCE. The born frees are not free of their social citizenry responsibility. I have lessons to teach my children as they lick their silver spoons. Their lives have to be purposeful and informed. Apathy and indifference is not how we make our country work. Only blaming the government doesn’t work internationally. We must keep them accountable after we keep ourselves accountable. What is our responsibility?Any unnatural death is a travesty and a reflection of our society. A symptom and a sign of something bigger than us. We have to start somewhere and let it be in our homes, in the classroom and in our attitudes as citizens of a community in trouble , a community who has had a small bitter taste of what is happening all over loved country.With my kindness and for your thoughts, Please share or offer your opinion! its time for us to roll up our sleeves and do something and be someone who is a difference." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor-22 Posted March 9, 2016 Share Very good article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pista Posted March 9, 2016 Share Really sad that kids can't enjoy the freedom and need to be locked up like prisoners for their safety. RIP Franziska Blöchliger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starvin' Marvin Posted March 9, 2016 Share At a loss for words, these powerful images have brought tears to my eyes. Incredibly sad and angry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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